2013 Eritrean Army mutiny

none 2013 Eritrean Army mutiny 21 January 2013 Asmara, Eritrea Coup d'état attempt failed; demands rejected Eritrean Army rebels Eritrean GovernmentEritrean Defence Forces Eritrean Army loyalists Eritrean Navy Eritrean Air Force Eritrean Police Force Isaias AfwerkiAhmed Umer KakayHadish Efrem 200 troops, two tanks15 Feb 2013 Issayas staggers a little https://www.africa-confidential.com/article-preview/id/4787/Issayas_staggers_a_little Africa Confidential 54 4 subscription Unknown The 2013 Eritrean Army mutiny was mounted on 21 January 2013, when around 100 to 200 soldiers of the Eritrean Army in the capital city, Asmara, seized the headquarters of the state broadcaster, EriTV, and allegedly broadcast a message demanding reforms and the release of political prisoners.Eritrea mutiny over as government, opposition say 'all calm' 2013-01-22 AFP Al-Ahram https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/63024/World/International/Eritrea-mutiny-over-as-government,-opposition-say-.aspx https://archive.today/20210321221717/https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/63024/World/International/Eritrea-mutiny-over-as-government,-opposition-say-.aspx 2021-03-21 2021-03-21 liveTekle Tesfa-Alem Eritrea's president breaks silence over army mutiny incident http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article45468 10 February 2013 11 October 2013 2013-10-11 https://archive.today/20131011230305/http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article45468 Sudan Tribune live The mutiny was the first major incident of resistance to the rule of Isaias Afwerki since the purging of a group of fifteen ministers who demanded political reform in 2001. Details about the mutiny remain murky, with several (but not all) government officials denying it even took place, while opposition sources claimed it had been an abortive coup attempt.Straziuso Jason A day after unrest reported in Eritrea, calm returns. Ambassador denied coup attempt https://news.yahoo.com/day-unrest-reported-eritrea-calm-returns-ambassador-denied-103732514.html 11 October 2013 AP 22 January 2013 Background 245px|thumbnail|right|Map of Eritrea.Human rights in Eritrea At the time of the mutiny, Eritrea had been ruled by Isaias Afwerki for two decades since its independence in 1993 from Ethiopia, following a 30-year war for independence. Initially allied with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his Tigray People's Liberation Front, whom Isaias' Eritrean People's Liberation Front had helped overthrow the communist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, border disputes caused relations between the two nations to rapidly turn sour, and in May 1998, Eritrea invaded Ethiopia.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4548754.stm International commission: Eritrea triggered the border war with Ethiopia BBC News 2005-12-21 1 September 2016 The resultant conflict killed between 70,000 and 100,000 on both sides.Eritrean, Ethiopian exchange of POWs begins CNN, 23 December 2000 Although Eritrea was awarded most of the disputed territory by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Ethiopia still occupied most of the disputed land until the outbreak of the Tigray War in November 2020. The war caused a severe curtailment of political freedoms and rights in Eritrea, with the constitution's implementation being delayed indefinitely and most young people being forced into the Eritrean national service.William Davison Bealfan T. Hayle Eritrea Mutiny Shows Growing Military Discontent With Isaias https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-25/eritrean-mutiny-signals-growing-military-discontent-with-isaias.html 11 October 2013 Bloomberg Presidential and parliamentary elections were postponed and have never been held since independence. The People's Front for Democracy and Justice, nominally a transitional authority, is the sole legal political organisation, making Eritrea Africa's last remaining official one-party state and the only two non-communists one-party states with the proto-state SADR (controlled by Morocco) in the world (most African nations were at one point single party states, while all its neighbours, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti have dominant-party systems).Hennig Rainer Chr. Eritrea "celebrates" 20 years of terror http://www.afrol.com/features/38272 11 October 2013 Afrol News 3 June 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20131014134302/http://www.afrol.com/features/38272 2013-10-14 dead Religious activity has been strictly monitored and suppressed, with evangelicals in particular facing imprisonment and torture."Eritrea says not aware of mass arrest of Christians", Reuters, Jeremy Clarke, December 10, 2009, Retrieved June 11, 2011. Even the patriarch of the majority Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Abune Antonios, was in 2007 forcibly removed and placed under house arrest.http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060201-033933-4818r Orthodox patriarch of Eritrea sacked 1 February 2006 5 February 2007 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083755/http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060201-033933-4818r 29 September 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6249028.stm Christians protest over Eritrea 28 June 2007 12 October 2009 BBC News Martin Plaut The level of repression has prompted many to call it "the North Korea of Africa" – Eritrea, which has no private media, has been ranked last in Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Index since 2007, below North Korea."Press Freedom Index 2013" https://web.archive.org/web/20130215183842/http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2013%2C1054.html 2013-02-15 , Reporters Without Borders, 30 January 2013 The mutiny Early on 21 January, the soldiers surrounded the headquarters of the state broadcaster, EriTV, known as "Forto", which sits atop a small hill overlooking Asmara.What Really Happened at Asmara's Ministry of (Dis)information ? http://en.rsf.org/eritrea-what-really-happened-at-asmara-s-24-01-2013,43947.html https://web.archive.org/web/20130127175712/http://en.rsf.org/eritrea-what-really-happened-at-asmara-s-24-01-2013,43947.html dead January 27, 2013 Reporters without Borders 200 troops, equipped with at least two tanks carried out the operation.15 Feb 2013 Issayas staggers a little https://www.africa-confidential.com/article-preview/id/4787/Issayas_staggers_a_little Africa Confidential 54 4 subscription The soldiers stormed the building and gathered all the employees into a room, and forced the director of EriTV, Asmelash Abraha, to read a prepared statement demanding the restoration of the constitution, the release of political prisoners, and the freeing of captured refugees. Only after the EriTV director had read two sentences, the feed was cut off. The mutineers may have been unaware their message was not broadcasting. Due to the quick interruption in the transmission, it remains unknown if they were attempting to call on other military forces to back up their demands. In the view of an Africa Confidential journal report, "Perhaps it was not really a coup attempt or only a poorly organised one." The building surrounded by loyalist troops, who also took up defensive positions around the presidential palace and airport, with the city remaining mainly calm. Units of the 6,000 strong Special Brigade, effectively Isais's Praetorian guard, were deployed. Reports vary as to whether the loyalist forces who suppressed the mutiny were led by Col. Saleh Osman, a hero of the Eritrean War of Independence or Special Forces Brigadier General Hadish Efrem. There was a brief exchange of fire, during which two officers taking part in the mutiny were wounded, one of whom later died. According to the Eritrean government three other officer who had tried to escape had been captured. The dissident soldiers were effectively leaderless and loyalist troops allowed the mutineers safe passage back to their barracks in the evening. At 10pm, the broadcast resumed, and the station's employees were released. The soldiers were said to have withdrawn from the headquarters complex. Reaction Days after the mutiny, a wave of arrests was carried out by the Eritrean government. Iranian media outlet, Press TV, interviewed Tesfa-Michael Gerahtu, Eritrean Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who claimed that the attempt had been fabricated, and that there had been no unrest whatsoever. There is also controversy in the name of the kind of action led by these rebel militaries. The Permanent Representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Eritrean Ambassador Girma Asmerom claimed that "As is the case all over the world an armed crazy, stupid and terrorist individual or group can take stupid actions... Such isolated incidents which frequently occur in the West are considered terrorist acts. I don't understand why in Africa they are considered coups d'état. It is the highest form of double standard and hypocrisy," thus implying that there had been unrest. References 2 Category:2013 in Eritrea Category:2013 in military history Category:January 2013 in Africa Category:2010s rebellions Category:Military history of Eritrea Category:Mutinies Category:Political history of Eritrea Category:History of Asmara